The bane of good leadership is the ability to listen to those around you. You listen to your lieutenants and frontline staff. You address the needs of your customers. In all this, you must find the means to practice discernment as a leader. You must be able to listen to the people and provide accordingly.
In this article, I am tempted to join the ranks of those calling a certain country Umuofia. In all honesty, let me say I will cherish fearless honesty” and call a spade a spade. Thus this piece is about Ghana and its current state.
A few years ago, I penned the poem NPP Psalm 23. I knew that under a NADAA-led government, Ghana was geared to achieve its glory not only in Africa but on the world stage.
Yes, we are no longer spectators but citizens. I walked proudly. I defended with impunity the various appointments because I believed we had the men and the job would be done.
After all, the majority of the men were from the diaspora. I believed they were bringing skills acquired from overseas to build up the nation. I was expecting to see classrooms spring up like mushrooms all over the hinterland; I was expecting an extensive broadband network or fiber optics internet network over the country. I expected collaborations with corporate bodies and religious sects to invest more in health infrastructure and educational infrastructure. I was of hope that Ghana’s educational blueprint would be tuned to that of a modern or cyber century. I was expecting continuance of beneficial projects started by previous governments and credit given where it is due.
Then COVID-19 hit. It was like thunderbolts descending from the skies. It was like a Humpty Dumpty falling off a wall. It was like having runsto and being far from a bathroom. COVID appeared like an Accra rainfall: survival tactics
Free water you said.
Free electricity you said.
The people rejoiced.
Meanwhile, the SHS was free. Walahi, Nana, you do all.
Then one day, as people woke to sounds of healthy pummeling of fufu mortars, amid aromatic smells of okro soup and palm nut soup and Ga kenkey and kpakpo shito, the announcement came like the smell from lavender hills: “you must pay for the water and light. Get ready”
The people responded with the enthusiasm and versatility of the Burmese cats.
How? What? Why?
All this time some funny charges at the airport. Some of us used that as an excuse not to travel. Sons and daughters defied the odds, traveled, paid, and were still denied the ability to see their beloved parents being buried. How, What, and Why?
The one good thing you have done is the continuous agenda of digitization of the economy. That one, you force brutal. You have been consistent with the uninterrupted supply of “Gobe” and “Waakye” for the citizens and residents of Gh. At exorbitant prices.
The drinking water of some parts of Ghana looks like orange juice, mango juice, apple juice or the favorite ginger drink. I hope you have tasted or drunk the same. Was yours iced?
And yes you have done well. To what it is you have done well, I do not know. I love the interchanges and overpasses. I decry the tendency of people to point at you with their left yet have no solutions.
Never you. I never expected such a thing. I held you to be a true son of the soil; a man of the people.
Someone must tell the king he is naked. Mr. President, you are trailing rags.
The response is we do not need someone. We are all telling him he is butt naked.
#SilentNoises ~knm 